Failure™ Magazine

The Road Out of Hell

Sanford Clark and the true story of the Wineville murders.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under History

In fact, Northcott raised the passion and hatred in the community to the point where the community didn’t even want to be called Wineville anymore. They changed the name to Mira Loma.

Why was Clark sent to the Whittier School instead of being imprisoned?
He was charged with conspiracy, and if it were not for the assistant prosecutor—a man named Loyal Kelley—he would have been tried alongside Northcott. While he wouldn’t have received the death penalty, he would have gotten a severe punishment. But Kelley instinctively understood what we now know to be Stockholm syndrome [emotionally “bonding” with captors]. He recognized that Clark was not a perpetrator but a victim.

In a sense, Clark had the same amount of blessings in his life as he had curses. The case was heard in the Whittier Courthouse in Riverside County, only a few miles from the Whittier School for Boys, which had an extremely forward-thinking rehabilitation program. All the boys were referred to as cadets and not inmates. No one was ever allowed to discuss their crimes or why they were there. And they spent half the day in school and half in a shop developing a skill. Everything was focused on avoiding recidivism. And Clark took that mindset to heart. When he left the school, Kelley charged him with proving that rehabilitation works and that the faith that had been placed in him was real. Clark internalized that and kept it his focus for the rest of his days.

Is the Whittier School still open?
It was closed and sold to private developers this year because California is so broke. This is a tragedy as far as I’m concerned.

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